“The Fifth Estate” roared into the Toronto Film Festival with the varnish of a major Oscar contender. It will leave with the pallor of an also-ran.
The WikiLeaks drama featured a much buzzed-about performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as secrets stealer Julian Assange, and while critics were mostly full of praise for the English actor’s work, they declared the film a muddle.
It is possible, of course, that “The Fifth Estate” will find a warmer reception when it crosses the border back into the United States and as more reviewers weigh in. But the tepid early notices can’t be what producer DreamWorks was hoping for when it decided to unveil the film a month before its domestic release at the festival.